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IAM Policy Map

AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess

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Summary

Provides read-only access to AWS Organizations. The AWS Organizations User Guide says it provides read only access to information about the organization and does not permit the user to make any changes.

Permissions imported from the AWS Managed Policy Reference Guide; other sections reviewed against the listed AWS sources.

Identity

ARN
arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess
Default version
v6
Created
Last edited
Services
account, organizations

Control-plane actions (34)

By access level: 21 List, 13 Read.

Control-plane actions by service
ServiceGrantedAccess levels and limitsGranted by
Account5 of 201 List, 4 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditionalaccount:GetAlternateContact, account:GetContactInformation, account:GetPrimaryEmail, account:GetRegionOptStatus, account:ListRegions
Organizations29 of 6320 List, 9 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditionalorganizations:Describe*, organizations:List*
Account: 5 actions
  • account:GetAlternateContact (Read)
  • account:GetContactInformation (Read)
  • account:GetPrimaryEmail (Read)
  • account:GetRegionOptStatus (Read)
  • account:ListRegions (List)
Organizations: 29 actions
  • organizations:DescribeAccount (Read)
  • organizations:DescribeCreateAccountStatus (Read)
  • organizations:DescribeEffectivePolicy (Read)
  • organizations:DescribeHandshake (Read)
  • organizations:DescribeOrganization (Read)
  • organizations:DescribeOrganizationalUnit (Read)
  • organizations:DescribePolicy (Read)
  • organizations:DescribeResourcePolicy (Read)
  • organizations:DescribeResponsibilityTransfer (Read)
  • organizations:ListAWSServiceAccessForOrganization (List)
  • organizations:ListAccounts (List)
  • organizations:ListAccountsForParent (List)
  • organizations:ListAccountsWithInvalidEffectivePolicy (List)
  • organizations:ListChildren (List)
  • organizations:ListCreateAccountStatus (List)
  • organizations:ListDelegatedAdministrators (List)
  • organizations:ListDelegatedServicesForAccount (List)
  • organizations:ListEffectivePolicyValidationErrors (List)
  • organizations:ListHandshakesForAccount (List)
  • organizations:ListHandshakesForOrganization (List)
  • organizations:ListInboundResponsibilityTransfers (List)
  • organizations:ListOrganizationalUnitsForParent (List)
  • organizations:ListOutboundResponsibilityTransfers (List)
  • organizations:ListParents (List)
  • organizations:ListPolicies (List)
  • organizations:ListPoliciesForTarget (List)
  • organizations:ListRoots (List)
  • organizations:ListTagsForResource (List)
  • organizations:ListTargetsForPolicy (List)

Data-plane actions (0)

By access level: none.

This policy grants no actions in this plane.

Excluded and conditional actions

No patterns are excluded by NotAction or Deny statements.

Resource scope and attachment

Resource scope across granted actions: all-resources.

Can be attached: Yes, to users, groups and roles.

Why this tier

  • Grants only List and Read actions.

Guidance

Practical scope

AWSOrganizationsReadOnly allows organizations:Describe* and organizations:List* on Resource "*". AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccount allows account:GetAlternateContact, account:GetContactInformation, account:ListRegions, account:GetRegionOptStatus and account:GetPrimaryEmail. It has no create, update or delete actions.

Use cases

  • Let users view information about the organization, including its accounts, their contact details and enabled Regions, without changing anything.

Best practices

  • AWS managed policies don't grant least privilege permissions. The IAM User Guide suggests using IAM Access Analyzer to see which permissions principals actually use, then writing a custom policy or generating one with only the required permissions.

Security considerations

  • The policy grants no write actions, but it applies to all resources. The AWS Organizations User Guide says it lets users view the root user email address and the enabled Regions of any member account in the organization.
  • You cannot change the permissions in an AWS managed policy. If AWS updates the policy, the update affects every user, group and role it is attached to.

Assignment guidance

You can attach this policy to your users, groups and roles. The reference page also links to guidance on creating a permission set using AWS managed policies in IAM Identity Center. The AWS Organizations User Guide says you can attach or detach its managed policies for entities in your organization. It fits where read-only visibility of the organization is intended.

Related policies

Same service

Same domain

Frequently asked questions

When should I attach AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess?
Attach it to users or roles that need to view the organization without making changes. The AWS Organizations User Guide says it provides read only access to information about the organization.
What does AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess grant?
It allows organizations:Describe* and organizations:List*, plus account:GetAlternateContact, account:GetContactInformation, account:ListRegions, account:GetRegionOptStatus and account:GetPrimaryEmail, all on all resources.
What are the security risks of AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess?
The policy grants no write actions, but it exposes organization structure, contact details and root user email addresses of member accounts on all resources. AWS managed policies don't grant least privilege permissions, and an AWS update to the policy affects every identity it is attached to.

Policy JSON

Download policy.json

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "AWSOrganizationsReadOnly",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "organizations:Describe*",
        "organizations:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccount",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "account:GetAlternateContact",
        "account:GetContactInformation",
        "account:ListRegions",
        "account:GetRegionOptStatus",
        "account:GetPrimaryEmail"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v6, edited by AWS on 2024-06-07. Version history is recorded from 2026-11-11. Earlier versions are in the IAM console under Policy versions.

Attach snippets

AWS CLI

aws iam attach-role-policy --role-name ROLE_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess

CloudFormation

Resources:
  ExampleRole:
    Type: AWS::IAM::Role
    Properties:
      AssumeRolePolicyDocument: {}  # replace with your trust policy
      ManagedPolicyArns:
        - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess

Terraform

resource "aws_iam_role_policy_attachment" "awsorganizationsreadonlyaccess" {
  role       = aws_iam_role.example.name
  policy_arn = "arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess"
}

CDK (TypeScript)

role.addManagedPolicy(
  iam.ManagedPolicy.fromAwsManagedPolicyName("AWSOrganizationsReadOnlyAccess"),
);

Sources